Off-road vehicles are commonly equipped with a powered winch and cable assembly which allow them to traverse obstacles such as deep mud, steep inclines, and other hazards which would otherwise be too difficult or dangerous for an unassisted vehicle. By attaching the cable to a fixed anchor point such as a tree or even another vehicle, a vehicle with a powered winch can pull itself out of mud or up a steep slope which would ordinarily cause the vehicle to lose traction or become mired. A vehicle with a powered winch may also be used to recover stranded vehicles by pulling them out of hazardous situations.
Vehicles with winches often employ a fairlead in combination with the winch to guide the cable as it is spooled in or out by the winch during a winching operation. Typical fairleads fall into two categories—hawse and roller fairleads. A standard hawse fairlead is a metal plate with a horizontal slot or mouth through which the cable passes. However, contact between the cable and the slot of the hawse can cause friction which can damage or even snap the cable under certain conditions. Roller fairleads provide an alternative to the hawse fairlead, and typically employ two horizontal rollers and two vertical rollers which guide the cable and rotate in order to reduce friction. However, roller fairleads are much bulkier than hawse fairleads, and are configured with the vertical rollers positioned in front of the horizontal rollers. As winches are usually mounted on the front bumper of the vehicle, a roller fairlead with protruding vertical rollers reduces the approach angle of the vehicle by making it more difficult for the vehicle to approach a steep slope. The increased profile of the roller fairlead may result in the roller fairlead contacting or even digging into the slope as the vehicle approaches, preventing the vehicle from climbing the slope and potentially damaging the fairlead, winch, or even the vehicle itself.
Therefore, there is a need for an improved fairlead assembly which repositions the vertical rollers to achieve a compact profile while still providing the advantages of a roller fairlead.
In the present disclosure, where a document, act or item of knowledge is referred to or discussed, this reference or discussion is not an admission that the document, act or item of knowledge or any combination thereof was at the priority date, publicly available, known to the public, part of common general knowledge or otherwise constitutes prior art under the applicable statutory provisions; or is known to be relevant to an attempt to solve any problem with which the present disclosure is concerned.
While certain aspects of conventional technologies have been discussed to facilitate the present disclosure, no technical aspects are disclaimed and it is contemplated that the claims may encompass one or more of the conventional technical aspects discussed herein.